Light Amid the Darkness

On this day, we celebrate the birth of Jesus. The Word made flesh, the bringer of light. To paraphrase John 1:4-5: The Word is the source of the light, and this light brings light to humankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put out the light. The one we were waiting for has come for all eternity.

We find comfort in the story of Jesus’s birth — that the Son of God was born, not in luxury, but in a lowly stable, to bring light to the world. But what do we, in this present time, do with this light in the midst of darkness?

Richard Rohr, in his little gem of a book, “Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent,” says it best: “We have to surrender to the fact that the darkness has always been here, and the only real question is how to receive the light and spread the light.” How and when we choose to receive the light is a personal journey of faith. Spreading the light is what we do in our daily lives through our personal relationships, our church, our circles, and our ongoing quest for love, mercy and justice in our daily lives.

Matthew 5:14 reminds us that we must work with hope inside the darkness — while never doubting the light that God always is — and that we are too. That we are the light as God is the light challenges us to spread this light amid our present darkness. To find hope and love within the light is what the baby Jesus, Love Incarnate, born so long ago, asks of us.

May we be the light during this Christmas season and continue to spread the light of God into the promise of a new year.

“If we love Our Lord with our whole heart, if we serve [God] faithfully, we shall be happy even in this life.”

– Saint Mother Theodore Guerin